Soon, a bunch of students in Canada enrolled in The Endeavour Centre’s Sustainable New Construction: Building a New Future program will begin work on constructing a true green home, Canada’s Greenest, in Ontario. The 2,000 square-foot home will be built over a period of five months and will sport an energy-efficient foundation, prefabricated straw bale walls, grid-tied photovoltaics, solar hot water, rainwater collection, greywater recycling, composting toilets, and natural paints and finishes. The house will then go on sale and the proceeds will be used to offset tuition costs! This home, to surface in the next few months, could very well turn into a working example, helping inspire home builders and buyers around the world to go green.

[jetsongreen]

Sipping coffee was the only way to stay warm using coffee beans, until now. Californian sports clothing company Virus has just pulled the veil off its new line of exceptional clothing using a one-of-a-kind fabric made from coffee! Using recycled coffee charcoal to produce fabric, Virus’ new line of clothing traps heat close to the skin, keeping you warm. These fabrics can trap heat of up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit and uses no chemical treatments or applications for insulation. Called the StayWarm line, these also shield you from harmful UV rays and keep odors away. A great way to stay warm using recycled coffee charcoal, the Virus StayWarm line further promotes recycling as a brilliant way to gather raw materials.

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When remarkable individuals come up with ways to recycle materials that could potentially harm the environment, and come up with ways to reuse them for the betterment of mankind, they deserve more than just a common applause. My Shelter Foundation is one of those organizations that make us believe in the gentleness of mankind. The foundation has been using plastic bottles and recycling them to build classrooms in Philippines! The plastic bottles are reinforced with cement, soil and water and are strong enough to face the elements, making an ideal raw material to build structures. Currently, a school is being built in Laguna using this technique and will also use natural lighting and solar bulbs for lighting.

[telegraph]

India will now play home to an eco-friendly initiative, also the first of its kind in the nation called the REAP. The Renewal Energy Assisted Pump, developed by BSES Yamuna Power Ltd, a subsidiary of BSES, in collaboration with IIT Delhi, uses solar energy to power up its water pumping system. At a total cost of just Rs. 4,00,000 (approximately $8,075.29) including the solar panels, the system could revolutionize the way homes, residential societies and industries pump water in the near future. The REAP system is easy-to-install and uses a submersible pump hooked on to solar panels and requires very low maintenance. This new development makes solar energy even more reliable for day-to-day use and is a fantastic way to bring home a clean supply of water without punching holes in the ozone.

[thehindubusinessline]

We love recycling and hearing about stuff being recycled leaves us smiling like overjoyed infants. Instead of having old retired computer monitors tossed in e-waste dump yards, designer J Edson Azevedo came up with a fantastic way to have the recycled. By scooping out the insides, Azevedo put these shells to use as trash cans, mounting them on walls in public spaces. Painting these a soothing yellow color that grabs the attention of the potential litterer and has him or her dump waste in these recycled monitors instead, the initiative tends to inspire and motivate.

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Recycling is great. Recycling to build something unique is better! Take artist Frank Buckley’s home for example. This abode is set apart from the rest, given the fact that it uses recycled materials for construction. And these recycled materials are exceptional to say the least! Instead of using the common bricks and cement, Buckley used shredded Euros to build his home. With 1.4 billion Euros in all, Buckley recycled these paper bills into bricks, each containing about 40,000 Euros. With special permission from the Central Bank of Ireland, Buckley built this home, complete with a bathroom, a bedroom and a living room with gallery space for his works!

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Producing hydrogen gas for use has always been a burden of sorts. HyperSolar however has come up with a brilliant way to do so, without too much of a hassle and without harming the environment. Hydrogen as we know it, is one of the cleanest ways to power up, with water as its only by-product. However, generating hydrogen gas takes energy, and HyperSolar has devised a technique to use solar energy to do so. Using solar energy to generate hydrogen gas for fuel seems to be a win-win deal and HyperSolar plans to use a solar-powered nanoparticle system inspired by photosynthesis to create hydrogen gas using solar energy.

[gizmag]

Computer peripherals have long since been destined to go green sooner or later. The day’s here, starting from the mouse. The conventional two-buttoned pointer device could soon turn obsolete with designs like the Leaf Wireless Mouse showing up. Designed by Lu Hairong and Zhang Xuehui, the Leaf is a self-powered mouse that converts the kinetic energy generated from its movement into usable electricity that in turn powers this device. Also, this pretty much makes battery-powered wireless mouse devices seem silly, given that the conventional device requires a fresh set of batteries every now and then.

[yankodesign]

In the near future, driving around in Europe is destined to turn into a micro affair. With the Hiriko micro concept car to soon hit production lines in Spain, the very way Europeans commute in personal vehicles is destined to change. These little cars do not succumb to urban space crunches and quickly fold into themselves to save up on parking space. With a bunch of Basque businesses, the Spanish government and the US's renowned MIT Media Lab at its back, the Hiriko capsule car has enough room for two and sports four in-wheel motors, making it a one-of-a-kind way to commute for the near future.

[telegraph]

California isn’t known as the Golden State for no apparent reason. This state located on the Western side of the United States has long since been known to be one of the largest producers and users of solar power, and remains so, even today! As per a report by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, California has been responsible for about half of America’s photovoltaic activity in 2010, playing home to 869 megawatts of installed capacity out of the nation’s total of 1,831 megawatts. In California, San Diego boasts the largest use of solar power, with 4500 solar-topped homes, businesses and government facilities, generating about 37 megawatts. We sincerely hope the Golden State works as a shining example for the rest of the country and the world as a whole, helping decrease the reliance on fossil fuels in the near future.

[scpr]
[environmentcalifornia]

The Pennsylvania Farm Show plays home to some pretty exceptional pieces of art carved out of butter, and this might seem like a tremendous waste of food to some, though once done, these sculptures are put to rest in a pretty eco-friendly way. Here’s how. Instead of dumping them in the trash, these butter sculptures are dumped in manure and are broken down with help from ever-hungry micro-organisms. The breaking down causes the release of methane gas which is then used to generate electricity using methane digesters. The electricity in turn is used to power up farms. This eco-friendly way serves as a win-win mode to disposing off the butter used at the Farm Show, without having to put food to complete waste.

[dvice]

German designers Charlotte Dieckmann and Nils Ferber have come up with a fabulous way dispose away all the waste food your home generates. The Parasite Farm is the perfect addition for the urban home that lacks the outdoor space for a proper composting area. Today, food waste is known to make up about 13% of trash in the United States alone, and composting it at home could help decrease the strain on landfills. Sporting a compost bin with a built-in chopping-board lid that can be mounted onto a kitchen table, the Parasite Farm enables you to turn your kitchen waste into soil, which can then be used to grow veggies indoors! Also, the system makes use of residual water that doubles up as fertilizer water, making the Parasite Farm an ideal way to get rid of food waste at home.

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At first, this beastly black ride seems to be grinning pretty wickedly. However, its insides seem to be unreasonably kind, both to the environment, as well as your wallet! Called the PG Elektrus, this electric roadster was developed by German manufacturer PG and Düsseldorf-based automobile designer Michael Fröhlich and is based on the Lotus Elise. Sporting an electric motor powered by a lithium-ion battery, the PG Elektrus’ insides produces the equivalent of 272-horsepower and 350Nm (258.2 lb-ft) of constant torque, pushing the car to the 62mph mark in less than 3 seconds! With a claimed 186mph top speed, this car boasts a range of up to 217 miles and comes with a price tag of €240,000 (US$312,400).

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The Deutsche Bank American Headquarters at 60 Wall Street now has a shiny new crown. The sky-scraper was recently adorned with a 122.4kW solar array that, besides being the largest in Manhattan, is also the highest flat panel PV array in the world. At 737 feet above ground, this installation sheds light on the Deutsche Bank’s sincere efforts to sway towards the greener side. The new panels in question will reduce the carbon emissions of the building by 100 metric tons per year, helping the bank shed some of its carbon footprint.

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Building an environment-friendly home is simple. Living in it takes more than the regular effort, given the fact that you need to keep a wary eye on the direction your solar panels face, in case you haven’t invested on automated options. Also, one needs to constantly keep switching off appliances to prevent unnecessary electricity sucking! Now, making living green easier, SCI-Arc and Caltech have come up with a net-zero solar-home that you control by waving your hands! Called the Compact, Hyper-Insulated Prototype Solar House (CHIP), this abode uses an Xbox Kinect for a master command center, enabling you to control your lighting, your shades and a lot more with simple gestures!

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